He feels compelled to add, 'It's really not a frat party. They'll say, 'Oh, I've always loved that one.' When you're in your seat at Jergel's, you're going to be a critic.' 'In many cases, it's a little bit of affirmation. 'It's not very widely available, so I was pretty excited to see how it ranked,' he said.Īs experts like Minnick do at professional bourbon-judgings, Jergel's participants will rank the bourbons they try to see which one takes top honors.

Interviewed Tuesday, Minnick said one bourbon he's featuring specifically for this western Pennsylvania event is distilled and produced by Terry Bradshaw, the Pittsburgh Steelers hall-of-famer.īradshaw Kentucky Straight Bourbon recently took silver-medal honors at both an Oklahoma competition, and a separate Blind Bourbon hosted by Minnick. Once coached through the sensory training, participants will move on to a flight of five bourbons, not being told which brands they are sampling. 'The reaction people have when doing a shot is, 'Oh, that burns,' or, 'Hey, that's smooth,' but if you actually taste it and put a little on your palette it's a different experience,' Minnick, the senior contributor on spirits for Forbes, and founding editor-in-chief of Bourbon+ Magazine, said. Minnick instead will guide guests into sipping that charcoal-filtered, 80 proof whiskey that meets official requirements of a bourbon, and is sold as such in Pennsylvania liquor stores. Participants won't be downing these Jacks diluted by Coca-Cola, or gulped with gusto out of a shot glass. 'Because everyone has had Jack Daniel's.'

'First, I'll train them on Jack Daniel's,' Minnick said. With their sense of sight temporarily taken away, Jergel's ticket buyers will learn to refine their sense of taste as they blindly sample five bourbons.īut before that they'll sip Tennessee's most famous whiskey, clearly identified. 'Here's how it works: In this case, I actually do have blindfolds for people to wear.' 'I'm going to teach people to taste like a pro,' said Minnick, an Iraq war veteran who has shared his expertise on spirits by authoring seven books and guesting on Bravo’s 'Top Chef,' Discovery’s 'Moonshiners,' Amazon Prime’s 'Bourbon Up,' along with 'CBS This Morning,' 'Fox and Friends,' NPR and the BBC. 20 at Jergel's Rhythm Grille.įred Minnick, a preeminent expert on whiskey, will lead the ticketed Blind Bourbon tasting at the Warrendale roadhouse. WARRENDALE - Blindfolds and bourbons will make for a uniquely entertaining and educational night Jan.

Fred minnick blind bourbon